The quality of a musical piece whether vocal or instrumental is determined by the ability to maintain a steady tempo or beat between musical notes. For some, including the great musicians of the past and present, the ability to maintain that beat has been and is an innate talent, while others have to be trained to acquire that talent.
Historically, the device used by musicians to maintain a steady beat and tempo while they play an instrument either alone or in a group, has been the, metronome which produces a metrical tick or clicking sound at a set rate of x number of clicks per minute. The timed clicks from the metronome helps musicians to maintain a steady beat as they play their instruments and/or help internalize a clear sense of timing and tempo. However, the free standing metronome commonly used to maintain tempo does not provide the musician with any feedback as to how close the musician is responding to the beat of the metronome, slightly ahead of the referenced beat or slightly after the beat.
With the advent of the personal computer (PC) followed by the personal digital assistants (PDA), digital tablets and smart phones (SP), music training has now entered the digital age and the once indispensable solitary free-standing metronome has in most instances, been replaced, by a computerized metronome with the beats emanating from within the PC, PDA, Tablet, or Smart phone to enable the musician to keep his tempo while playing his instrument.
The advent of the digitized metronome has made it possible to create music training applications and programs that are accessible on computers, tablets, smart phones and other smart devices. There is a need in the market for a music training product that is capable of providing feedback to the musician as to whether their response to a metronome beat is before, simultaneously, or after the beat and also one that improves their rhythmic motor skills such as ear-hand coordination, eye-hand coordination and other motor skills while learning to play an instrument. The present invention provides such a device, system and method. These and other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art through the summary of the invention, detailed description of the invention, and the claims that follow.